Tyson Pedro wins by knockout on his return to the UFC after record-breaking layoff

After spending a record 1,239 days out of the octagon, Aussie fighter Tyson Pedro had a lot of frustrations to work out – and he did so on his opponent Ike Villanueva as he scored a first-round knockout win at UFC Vegas 52.

The light heavyweight from western Sydney finished proceedings by knocking Villanueva off his feet with a nasty leg kick before landing two devastating right uppercuts that forced the referee to rush in and wave the fight off.

Pedro was in control from the outset, using those leg kicks to great effect before accidentally catching Villanueva in the groin with a knee that made him take a medical time out.

After the fight, Pedro told former UFC heavyweight champ Daniel Cormier that the huge layoff had actually improved him as a fighter.

‘It’s surreal at the moment … I can’t even put into words how hard it’s been. Four long years,’ he said.

‘If you’ve seen some of my last fights, they were rushed. It was a bit amateurish. 

‘One thing that’s happened is my mentality has gotten way better. I’m way more patient. 

‘This is the proudest I can say I’ve been of myself in a long time.’

No UFC star has ever been sidelined longer than the 30-year-old, who endured three major knee surgeries during his time out, and also tore his meniscus twice in training. 

He had a heartbreaking setback about 18 months into his layoff when he discovered his rehabilitation had gone badly wrong during a chat with NRL star Andrew Fifita.

‘There was a certain point in my recovery, about 18 months in, where we were talking about what I could and couldn’t do,’ Pedro told the Daily Telegraph.

‘And he [Fifita] said to me “bro, this isn’t right … you should be able to do (a lot more) by now”.’

‘He wanted me go see the Cronulla physio, and got me in to see him. And it was so lucky he did.

This straight right failed to land – but the two uppercuts Pedro threw to end the fight were right on the button, forcing the referee to step in

‘I feel like I’m in a dream at the moment,’ Pedro said after his victory

‘The Sharks eventually sent me off to a different surgeon who said my ACL, it wasn’t in the tunnel properly, and this was after 18 months recovery.

‘The new surgeon told me they could do [an operation] which would sort of support the knee or they could start from scratch again. So we started again from scratch.’

Pedro admitted that ‘there were some tears’ after undergoing his second surgery, but the support of Fifita and the Sharks helped him through it.

The fight was Pedro’s eighth win by stoppage in the first round.

‘First and foremost, someone get me my daughter and then book me another fight, because Daddy’s got to get paid,’ he said in the octagon after the win.

‘Feel like I’m in a dream at the moment,’ he wrote on Instagram.